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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987299">Found Forever on a Field Trip</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/221BSunsetTowers/pseuds/221BSunsetTowers'>221BSunsetTowers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Found Forever on a Field Trip [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Carlos Teaches Preschool, Field Trip, Firefighter TK Strand, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Soft Carlos Reyes, Soft Carlos Reyes/TK Strand, Teacher Carlos Reyes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:40:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,406</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987299</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/221BSunsetTowers/pseuds/221BSunsetTowers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos has been taking his preschool class on a field trip to Fire Safety Squad for years. </p><p>But this year, there's a new firefighter volunteering to teach the children about fire safety...</p><p>An AU featuring Preschool Teacher Carlos and Firefighter TK.</p><p>For Day 6 of Carlos Reyes Week, "What If/Au"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes/TK Strand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Found Forever on a Field Trip [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2261303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Carlos Reyes Week 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Found Forever on a Field Trip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm a few days late, but this is for Day 6 "What If/AU" for Carlos Reyes Week. I've always wanted to write a Tarlos AU, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!</p><p>I'm a preschool teacher, so the Fire Safety Squad is based off of a field trip I take my students on, and while I've sadly never met TK and Marjan on said field trips, much of the rest is based off real experiences of mine (including the garbage can bathroom on the school bus, a story in and of itself). And like Carlos, while my job can be absolutely exhausting, I love it so much!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The school bus pulled up to Fire Safety Squad, and the twenty preschool students on the bus squealed and screamed in excitement, only their old school seat length seat belts keeping them from hurling their bodies up and into the aisle. </p><p><br/>
Luckily Carlos was no newbie at this. </p><p><br/>
Having taken his class on a field trip to this same spot three years running, he had his large coffee with an extra shot of expresso balanced in one hand as he exited the bus, counting heads as he steered the children and their chaperones to the sidewalk outside the building. "Franny, you know you have to stay with your chaperone!" Carlos called out towards a young girl sprinting towards the front door, before reaching out and gently turning a young boy's hand upside down, the dirt the child had been about to throw at his classmate dropping to the ground instead.</p><p><br/>
"Mr. Russell, please remember that you are not allowed to show the children videos on your phone," Carlos reminded a father, keeping a smile on his face and his voice full of cheer as he saw the man scowl and shove his phone in his pocket seconds into a Paw Patrol episode. "We're about to go inside anyway, which is so exciting!"</p><p><br/>
Facing his class, Carlos couldn't keep the grin off his face. He was already exhausted at 9:30 AM, a child had had to pee in the bus' trash can because they couldn't hold it anymore (even though they had gone right before they had boarded), and he had heard Baby Shark a minimum of thirteen times in a row, but as he looked at all the eager faces, he was reminded all over again why he loved his job. "We're about to go inside friends, so remember to stay with your chaperone, listen to the firefighters, and have fun!"</p><p><br/>
"Yay!" Carlos heard the children yell as he led them inside. Stopping at the front desk, Carlos pulled the field trip file from his backpack, passing over the permission slips, waivers, and payment information before sheparding his class to sit criss cross applesauce on the floor. Lowering himself down next to him, his students immediately tried to get as close to him as possible, pressed up against both of his arms, poking him in the back, and one even sitting on his foot. </p><p><br/>
"This is the best, Mr. Reyes!" Franny exclaimed, clapping her hands together as she stared around the space. "Are there going to be real firefighters right here?"</p><p><br/>
"There sure are," a voice answered back, and Carlos turned his head, and oh, this man must be new here, because Carlos knew he would never have been to forget him if he'd seen him before. Green twinkling eyes, beautiful big smile, and those arms the AFD t-shirt showed off...Carlos forced himself to blink, but he knew he'd been caught staring when the man winked at him and grinned. </p><p><br/>
Carlos pretended he was propping his face up in his hands just to hide his red cheeks from his students, their parents, and said firefighter. He heard the man laugh, and then he heard him start speaking.</p><p><br/>
"Hi everyone, I'm Firefighter Strand, welcome to Fire Safety Squad!" The children screamed and clapped, but when Carlos raised his hand, they all raised a hand and settled back down. Firefighter Strand gave Carlos an impressed nod, before turning back to the students. "My friend here is Firefighter Marwani." She raised her hand and waved.</p><p><br/>
"We're here to teach you all about fire safety," Firefighter Marwani said with a smile, pointing at the organized pile of equipment in front of them. "Now, when we go to help put a fire and help people, we have to wear a lot of special clothes and carry a lot of special tools. And we have to put them on super fast as soon as the alarm sounds."</p><p><br/>
"How fast do  you think we can put all this stuff on?" Firefighter Strand called out with a grin, and the children all started shouting at once, guessing anywhere from a second to infinity minutes. His students helped the firefighters count down from three to zero, and then they were clapping and cheering as the two raced to get everything on correctly as quickly as possible.</p><p><br/>
When they had finished, the firefighters talked the students through every piece of their uniform and every tool, explaining what they were for. They made sure the children saw them in their full gear, so they would know never to be scared if a firefighter came to help save them from a fire, and showed an example of a fire safety plan they could make with their families in case of an emergency.</p><p><br/>
Then the children were released into the play areas of the building, where they could climb stairs and slide out of a play building with fabric flames, try on child size firefighter uniforms, drive mini fire trucks and motorcycles, and even play in a real decommisioned fire truck. Carlos watched with a wry grin as the parent chaperones took off running after their extremely hyped up group members, trying to convince them to all make the same choice of where they wanted to go first.</p><p><br/>
"Agnes, please wait your turn, Lucy got there first, you can slide down right after her!" Carlos called out, waving at the children who grinned mischeviously back at him.</p><p><br/>
"How did you even see that happening?" Firefighter Strand's voice came from over Carlos' shoulder.</p><p><br/>
"When you get your teacher certification, you also get a pair of eyes in the back of your head," Carlos said with a laugh, turning around and freezing as he ironically realized just how close he and the firefighter were actually now standing.</p><p><br/>
"Well, if they're as pretty as your normal eyes..." The firefighter said with a soft smile, ducking his head, and Carlos was delighted to find he wasn't the only one with blush-tinted cheeks.  "I'm TK. Are teachers allowed to have first names?"</p><p><br/>
"We are in fact," Carlos teased, smiling back at TK. "Mine is Carlos."</p><p><br/>
"Well it's very nice to meet you, Carlos," TK grinned, reaching out to shake Carlos' hand.</p><p><br/>
***</p><p><br/>
One year later, Carlos got off the school bus balancing two large coffees. "Friends, it is not a choice to run at the squirrels!" he called out, three of his students sighing as they turned back from their prey. "Everyone, please sure you stay with your chaperones! Let's do a head count and then we can head inside!"</p><p><br/>
Pushing the front door of Fire Safety Squad open, Carlos headed for the front desk, exchanging smiles with the receptionist as he passed over their paperwork. "It's all he's been talking about all week," she said with a wink.</p><p><br/>
"He's as bad as my students, I swear," Carlos laughed, before ushering his students to sit criss cross applesauce on the floor. Before he could lower himself down, he felt a familar pair of arms around his waist, and turned to meet TK's twinkling eyes and beaming smile.</p><p><br/>
"Hey there baby," Carlos said softly, meeting TK's grin with one of his own before handing over one of the coffees. Firefighter Marwani, now Marjan to Carlos, winked at them before quickly gaining the students' and parents' full attention. With all eyes elsewhere, Carlos leaned in, lightly brushing a kiss against TK's waiting lips. "I missed you."</p><p><br/>
"Three hours is an awfully long time to be apart," TK bantered back, intertwining their fingers. Raising Carlos' hand, he lay a kiss across his knuckles. "I missed you too, sweetheart. I miss you every second we're not together." Carlos blushed, and TK beamed. "Love that I can still do that to you even after a year."</p><p><br/>
"Well I love you," Carlos answered with a smile, squeezing TK's hand. </p><p><br/>
"I love you too," TK said, leaning in for one more kiss before stepping back. "And now I must go, for my other adoring fans await!" With a dramatic bow, TK hurried over to the group of children, who started up a new round of cheering now that they got to have two real firefighters in front of them. </p><p><br/>
Laughing, Carlos joined his students on the floor, and was immediately glomped onto by as many children as possible. He saw TK's eyes grow soft before he launched into his speech. "Hi everyone, I'm Firefighter Strand-Reyes, welcome to Fire Safety Squad!"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! Kudos and Comments are like warm hugs for my heart! You can also find me on tumblr at 221BSunsetTowers!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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